The jaw of Boxing B.C. president Mickey Sims hit the floor when Bob Pegues pulled out his weigh scales, stepped on them, and then challenged Sims to a fight.
Their meeting at a coaching seminar in Vancouver was not meant to discuss the logistics of two 60-year-old guys stepping into the boxing ring to clobber each other. But that's exactly what's going to happen when Pegues and Sims clash at the Night of the Champions card May 11 at the Charles Jago Northern Sport Centre.
"I'm five months younger than him, so I've got youth on my side," said Pegues, who turns 60 in November.
"I made weight two weeks ago and I want to get a bit lighter because there's no way I can outpunch this guy. There's a guy in Kelowna and it would be a way smarter fight for me, but [in setting up local fight cards] we've always said no tomato cans. We bring in the toughest guys we can find and I have to make sure it's not just somebody I can just punch around."
Sims, who lives in Salmon Arm, is a two-time Ringside world masters champion in the middleweight (74 kilogram) class, having won the title the past two years in Kansas City. Trained in martial arts and kickboxing, he's fought six times since he started boxing two years ago.
Sims is no stranger to Prince George. The son of former Prince George Mohawks hockey player Doug Sims was born in the city and lived here until he was 12, with stops along the way in the now-abandoned sawmill towns of Penny and Giscome.
"He's a pretty handy dude, he was the self-defence instructor for the B.C. sheriffs for 35 years," said Pegues. "I'm intending to win, but the money's on him for sure."
In a six-year amateur career from 1969-75, Pegues won 28 of 32 bouts. Back in his prime at age 22, fighting out of his Nanaimo hometown in the 63-kilogram class at the Canadian Olympic trials in 1975, Pegues almost made the team, losing in the semifinal round.
Last year in September, Pegues recovered after three years of suffering vertigo, a condition which left him unable to run around the block without feeling nauseous. With his balance restored, knowing about Sims's success at the master level, that got Pegues thinking about fighting again. He started running and began the same workout exercises as 23-year-olds Kenny Lally and Jag Seehra, the Inner City Boxing Club fighters Pegues has trained for years. Since then, he's lost 12 kilograms and he feels he's in great shape to face Sims.
"My plan is not to go in there toe-to-toe for three rounds, but when you've only got that much time that's all you can do to make a show," said Pegues. "I'm fit enough to do that but [getting into a slugfest] doesn't appeal to me, I like to box and be a counter-puncher.
"It's almost like a new lease on life. Part of it was getting rid of the vertigo and being this fit again. I haven't felt this good in years."
His daily routine includes runs up and down university hill every day and he's got his 10-kilometre time down to 43 minutes. Before the fight notion came to him, Pegues signed up for distance races in the B.C. Seniors Games in Kamloops in August. He wants to run a half-marathon alongside Lally and Seehra.
Masters boxers are required to wear protective headgear that cover their cheeks as well as their heads and they have to use 16-ounce gloves. The Pegues-Sims fight is scheduled for three one-minute rounds. Rules for the new masters division (boxers 40 years and older) stipulate each boxer in a fight must be born within five years of each other.
"They're really strict at this age and so they should be," said Pegues. "In all of amateur boxing, lots of people complain about how they go overboard with safety but when you have your kids in it you're glad they do."
Pegues is following in the footsteps of Wayne Sponagle, coach of the Spruce Capital Warriors Boxing Club, who had his comeback fight at age 52 in November 1997 when he fought to a draw with Sherman Meraspy, a 27-year-old from Saskatoon.
"Putting a couple old guys in the ring, it's got to be fun," said Pegues. "I'm fighting to win, for sure, but we'll having lots of fun putting this on.
"After all my life in the sport, surely I know enough to survive three minutes, no matter how tough it gets. I want to do more than survive. There are two ways to lose -- I can lose the match and look like a total idiot and I don't intend to do either."
n In the penultimate Night of the Champions match, national A-team member Kenny Lally of Inner City takes on Hector Ronden of Tacoma, Wash., in a 60-kilogram fight, a tune up for his international tournament next month in Serbia. Lally is coming off a win over Alberta champion Eric Taylor of Edmonton two weeks ago in Quesnel.
In the semi-main event, Jag Seehra of Inner City will face Nick Jefferson of Tacoma in the 64 kg weight class. The 11-fight card also marks the return of former Canadian female champion Alex Legault. Legault, 26, has had a baby since she left Prince George and now lives in Calgary. The former Inner City fighter won three consecutive 52 kg national titles from 2004-06. Samir-el Mais of Windsor, Ont., the current Canadian heavyweight champion, is matched with an opponent from Red Deer.
Kaiden Witso, the 14-year-old son of former Spruce Capital Warriors heavyweight Christian Witso, is also penciled in on the card against a Salmon Arm opponent.
Proceeds from the card will be used to help fund Lally and Seehra and their quest to qualify for the 2016 Olympics. Lally is currently ranked 19th in the world in his weight class, while Seehra is ranked 64th.
See next Tuesday's Citizen for a feature story on Sims.
